Does your business communication motivate your audience into some form of action?

• Commenting on something you wrote
• Sharing a favorite post
• Purchasing a product –something.

Few of us hope we put the reader or listener to sleep. Well, maybe if you’re a hypnotist. So, what can you do to inspire your audience to act out? In a good way.

The following are three ideas.

3 Ways to Shout Action

Start with the basics − words. Words are the ignition key to your business communication vehicle. You will not get very far without them.

The image below depicts three ways to jumpstart your communication.

1. Use action verbs.

Did you just groan? How’s that for an action verb? Before you have flashbacks to grade school grammar, hear me out.

Let’s test that theory of image-making. Look at the following three verbs.

• Run
• Gag
• Eating

Do you have a picture for each? Or do you have one picture of a running person who is gagging on the pizza he’s eating? Or maybe that’s just my image. Strange, I know.

Now, look at a copy of your last business communication. When you read it (or listen to it), does it paint an image in your mind? If not, try inserting some action verbs.

Example

• XYZ Company’s content on its website ~
• We have all kinds of products to choose from.
• Yawn, right?

Try sprinkling in more action (action verb in bold).

Customers applaud the variety of available products.

Do you see those customers standing and applauding? Nothing better than a standing ovation.

2. Pump Up the Action

One way to shout action is by pumping up the value of the words you select.

Action verbs are like athletes. Some are stronger than others. Share on X

Review your business communication. Are there action verbs in need of pumping up?

The following are a few suggestions to get the creative juices flowing. The first word is a commonly used action verb. Suggested alternatives follow to “pump you up”.

• Began − commenced, activated, introduced, launched
• Gave − bestowed, awarded, entrusted, donated
• Made − constructed, built, assembled, fashioned
• Took − grabbed, hooked, seized, captured
• Planned − devised, engineered, formulated, mapped

Feeling creative? Go ahead. You try it. What pumped up version would you use for the following? Share your ideas in Comments.

1. Provide
2. Start
3. Increase

3. Flip into Action

Do you know someone who is passive in nature? He or she allows others to take charge. Passive voice is like that, too.

Passive voice deflates business communication.

This trick won’t work all the time; however, to convert a passive sentence into action − flip it.

 

Action Steps

Act today and discover the power of better business communication.

1. Energize content with action verbs.
2. Pump up the value by replacing weaker words with stronger ones.
3. Flip passive voice to an active structure.

How do you help your business communication to act out? Share your suggestions in Comments.

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Helping you Keep it simple, clear & uniquely yours

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Note: In 2015, SSB took a year-long alphabetic journey for better business communication. Each post contained an A-to-Z topic for creating better business communication. This ‘A’ post originally published on January 19, 2015 and this February 20, 2022 version updates it. The plan is to update each alphabetic post. Hopefully, it will not take a year to complete. 😊

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